News from the Ranch

Kim asked several designers to design either a house or a tree block for her Quilt-Along. Since there seems to be lots of houses so far, and there seems to be lots of piecing so far, I chose to do an applique tree . . .

The Happy Tree

Easy pieces, bright colors, and no perfection required!

Let’s get started, shall we?

Click HERE for the downloadable file with the full-sized templates and printable instructions.

You can use whatever method of applique you prefer to attach the pieces to your background. The templates are full-sized, but you do need to add seam allowance if you use a method such as needle-turn. It is not necessary to reverse the templates for fusible, unless you just want to reverse the tree trunk so it will look exactly like the picture.

If you’ve never tried needle-turn applique, and would like to, here’s a link to my tutorial on how to applique leaves: How To Applique a Leaf.

First, you need a background to put your tree on. So choose a fabric for your “ground”, and a fabric for your “sky”.

From your ground fabric, cut a strip 4″ x 13 1/2″.

From your sky fabric, cut a piece 10″ x 13 1/2″.

Sew the ground to the sky along one long side. Press the seam toward the ground. (Pay no nevermind to the fact that my sky has a seam down the middle of it. This is the piece of fabric I wanted to use, darn it, and it just wasn’t wide enough, so I fixed myself right up by piecing it. The seam won’t show so bad when I’m done anyway. Feel free to do this your ownself if you have to.)

Cut out your trunk, and position the trunk on your background fabric. Pin in place.

Sew it down. I left the top edge of mine unsewn, since I’ll be overlapping it with leaves and the raw edges will get caught under them. No sense doing any more work than you have to!

Now you’re ready for all those leaves. Make your leaf template . . .

. . . and cut out 40 leaves from scraps.

Now, for the fun part. Just scatter your leaves randomly over your background however you want them, and stitch them down (or fuse them down). If you need fewer than 40 leaves, then scatter some on the ground, or leave them out. If you want more leaves, then just make more. Your tree can be however you want it to be.

When you’re all done with the leaves, press your block gently from the back side, and trim it to 12 1/2″ x 12 1/2″ square. It’s now ready to use in your quilt.

I hope you enjoy making this tree for your Home Sweet Home Quilt, and if you make one, please be sure to post it in the Home Sweet Home Quilt-Along’s Flickr Group so I can see! Thanks for visiting, and enjoy the rest of the Quilt-Along.